Well, this made my day. As some of you may know, I am a huge Simpsons fan (it’s the only thing I will watch on TV besides sports). Check this out… recorded for this year’s DMC championship by dj Fong Fong.
DJ Homer Simpson
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Category Archives: nerdy stuff
Copyrights and digital music
Recently a few popular websites that many djs relied on for remixes were taken down, and there has been outrage in the DJ community. Additionally, many websites that host or point to possibly illegally downloadable music have been targeted for advertising revenue by an agency called GroupM, and copyright laws are the minds of those of us in the music business once again.
Remix sites were a place where accomplished DJs would post their remixes and edits of popular and classic songs, and they could be bought by other DJs. Most sites tried to cover themselves by demanding that users were professional DJs, but the reality was that they were in sketchy legal territory. That being said, many of the remixes were quite popular in clubs (and on the radio), to the point of being promoted by the original artists and increasing sales for the song by getting it more attention. Looking at them as simply copyright infringement also short changes the work put in by the remixer, whose creativity can completely change a song. None of this matters much to the record labels, of course, who are literally just in it for the money.
A fascinating new (theoretically) legal remix service offers a truly different method of delivering remixes and being sure that all people involved get paid—including the original artist and label. Legally, you can make as many copies of any musical work you own (meaning you can have a song on your computer and on your iPod), and you can also alter those works for your own benefit. The new site, called Legitmix, offer you a chance to buy the remix—with the original sample taken out—so that you can recreate the remix on your own computer (well, the software does it automatically). Legally. The site also allows you to buy the original song if needed, which guarantees money for the artist (or whoever owns the rights—usually not the artist). Check it out!
Legitmix Empowers Artists from Legitmix on Vimeo.
Special thanks to DJ Platurn for pointing out the service and DJ Audio1 for keeping his remixes alive and available!
pretty plastic
Saw a cool thread on the serato board, started by my boy Dub Cowboy, about all the pretty vinyls. I have a bunch, these were the first ones I ran across since they were in my reggae section. Not too much money is usually spent on reggae pressings, so these are no doubt pretty rare.
Gotta start with the above Black Uhuru Red on red vinyl. A fancy pressing of my all time favorite album!
This one sounds great, too, it’s got an extended version of “One Love/People Get Ready” and “So Much Trouble in the World” and “Keep on Moving” on the flip side.
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| Side A, 12″ single of One Love (extended) |
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| B side |
Barrington Levy’s “Under mi Sensi” on green vinyl. It has four remixes of the tune pressed to this 10″ (and none of them are very good).
A weird/random Bob Marley interview picture disc.
Reggae Gold ’95 form VP records. I played the shit out of this record, it is incredibly quiet now. One thing I remember the most about this vinyl (besides the tunes) is that I had a hard time telling where tunes started and ended because you can see the grooves on both sides.
A real score: orange vinyl of Kung Fu Meets the Dragon by Lee “Scratch” Perry. Sweet.
Clear purple vinyl for a 45 on the “1999″ riddim
Clear blue 45 of Wyclef and Spragga on the same label. This was on the “Night Rider” riddim (or at least that’s what it should have been called).
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| Another very random Bob Marley Picture disc… |
I’ll post more as I run across them… hoping to re-organize my non-reggae soon.
Records and Organization
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| “The answer” playlist… whenever I have a question about what to play |
To be honest, I’ve DJed with tons of DJs—some of the best DJs alive in my opinion. If you listen to them, you can learn what songs they have (especially in the vinyl days) and what scratches they could execute, and you can see on stage what equipment they prefer. The trick, however, is to step inside their mind/soul and learn how they experience it. One very interesting way to look at it is by looking at their music organization system. Every time, it is a surprise.
All time tune
As a kid, I would always spend my time reading the music magazines while my mom was doing grocery shopping. I remember in the 80′s leafing through Rolling Stone and seeing reference to the album Red by Black Uhuru. By 1989, I had reached hard-core music addiction and saw the reference again, this time as #23 on its list of best albums of the 1980′s. At that point, I had already given up on most genres of music represented by Rolling Stone at the time, and headed to Rasputin’s where I found the cassette used. Best purchase ever.
I went on a road trip that spring with the family, and I was glued to my genuine Sony Walkman the entire trip. This Uhuru album was the first time I’d really deviated from mainstream reggae like the Marley family, Jimmy Cliff, UB40, and what Burning Spear was releasing at the time. It was a breath of fresh air.
I remember gazing at the blue sky out the back window of our family’s Subaru station wagon as the now familiar guitar lick of “Sponji Reggae” finally penetrated my consciousness. It was a very different sound from what I’d been hearing of reggae, with the urban edge I had embraced in hip hop and a more contemporary sound than what I’d heard from so much of the 70′s stuff I had. The interplay of the bells, bass, and guitar gave me chills. Additionally, it was my first real exposure to Sly and Robbie, and I imagine most of us can remember our first exposure to them (if you can’t, wait a few more weeks and I’ll do a post on them!). Over all, my mind was blown and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Years later, I also happened to catch a Cosby Show episode where the song was played, much to my utter astonishment.
I spent most of high school and college making sure that I had every recording by the Black Uhuru lineup that featured Mykel Roze, Puma, and Duckie. I made myself the promise to also be sure to buy every copy of Red that I came across (which wasn’t that many, to my surprise, I guess even casual reggae listeners love it… or of course it wasn’t pushed by the label!). See below to see what I’ve found, and download some of the rare copies of Sponji Reggae I’ve digitized!
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| UK 7 inch single |
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| 12″ Sponji Reggae single as released in USA |
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| Black Uhuru Red USA Version |
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| Black Uhuru Red Vunyl UK limited pressing |
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| Sponji Reggae UK 12″ single version… 10 minutes long! |
Lastly, my favorite version of the tune!
Here is an old review of the album Red that Island posted on its website.
Elephant Treasures
Every year, The Oakland Museum has it’s White Elephant Sale, which I have been enjoying as a visitor since the late 80′s (before that, I just got the toys and books from Dad). It’s definitely one of the best annual events in the entire Bay Area, and if you like digging for treasure this is the spot. Look below to see what I found, listen to it, and learn about it! It’s vicarious crate digging!
So, this year I got there a little late, and I already know I missed some great music (because I know that Odiaka grabbed it!). But here are a few of the gems I still came up on… out of about 50 records I bought.
I didn’t get any electronics this year (for a big change) or any bikes, but I added a couple books to the final tally before going home well satisfied.
This year I was inspired by Joe Quixx‘s set at Fresh Jamz as well as mix I’ve been listening to a lot by Matthew Africa. I realize there are a lot of late 70s souly/disco records that I have overlooked because of my on–again/off–again obsession with the Stax/Volt labels and because they weren’t played much on KDIA. That is the gap in my collection I was hoping to fill on this mission, but of course this is not exactly the venue for that, and every digging adventure has a huge element of serendipity.
Top left is a live Pointer Sisters‘ album. They’ve been favorites of mine for years, and that feeling has only increased since I’ve learned that they went to the Oakland middle school where I work. It’s a two record set of a show at the SF Opera House from 1974. It’s probably the only record by the sisters that I didn’t have, and covers their early career, with a bunch of their “boogie” stuff from very early on. This performance was the first contemporary music performance at that venue.
The next record over is a set of speeches by JFK, released shortly after his assassination.There were a few copies, this was the least scratched. No doubt it has great samples, hopefully I’ll get a chance to use some.
I got three Mills Brothers‘ albums that I didn’t have, one is a cool re-issue of some recordings from the early 30′s when they were less vocalists and mimicked instrument sounds (on the back it lists the brothers by “instrument,” as in “first vocal trumpet”). If you’re not familiar with the Mills Brothers, they are a great group that my grandparents introduced me to and well worth checking out—definitely one of the most enduring vocal groups of the 20th century (2000 recordings, 50 million copies sold)! Download a super classic tune here.
The next album is just a Jazz compilation originally put out by Lucky Strike cigarettes as a promotion in the 50s. Some great artists on there with some crucial tracks, and I feel like compilations are the best way to grow a collection in any genre. My Jazz collection is great (thanks Dad!) but my attention span is terrible (thanks Dad!) so I rarely listen to entire albums of a particular Jazz artist. Here’s one of the tunes here.
On top of that one is a 7″ of Huey Lewis‘ “If This Is It,” complete with ridiculous cover picture and all the lyrics on the back cover. I forgot how funny the video was until I was writing this, but I will never forget the line “you’ve been thinkin’/and I’ve been drinkin’.” Classic.
Below that are some other great 7 inch singles (always the best way to buy music!). One is Hall & Oates “Out of Touch,” one of my all timers from the 80s. One is B.J. Thomas “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” which is a huge score. Another is Earth Wind and Fire with “Getaway,” with the instrumental on the back (!).
One is quite weird, a group called Pseudo Echo with their cover of “Funky Town.” There were a few records by them floating around, and that surprised me a bit, I’ve been digging for used records for decades and it wasn’t a group that I recognized. Then again, a lot of rock from the 80s did not penetrate Oakland. This group was actually the “second biggest rock group in Australia behind INXS” (not sure what that really means). Their version of Funky Town actually somehow cracked the pop charts in America, but was one of the few of their songs that crossed the ocean. Strangely enough, they actually re-re-did Funky Town in 1999. Check out the version on the 7 inch here.
Rick Astley, “Together Forever.” Need I say more? If you notice the awesome dot-matrix label at the top of the cover, it was part of a lot that was evidently donated by some fitness place. Each one is hilariously labeled with what part of the workout it would be good for, and even what specific area of the body should be used—this one is recommended for cool down & glutes and hamstrings. My fitness nut wife is currently testing the quality of their recommendations, but I just love the idea of a bunch of folks with leg warmers on working out and a vinyl nerd in the back of the room getting his workout by digging out the right Rick Astley album to play.
Keith Sweat, “Make It Last Forever” with an extended edit on the B side. Larry Graham—great picture eh? I have a poster of him up in my office and all the kids think he’s Damon Wayans (whom he really looks like!). If you don’t know, he is the Oakland-born inventor of the slap bass. Billy Ocean, “Get Out of My Dreams, Get into My Car.” Another one from the gym, one of quite a few Billy Ocean songs I picked up.
Lastly, the Gap Band, IV. Yes, this is the one with “Outstanding” and “You Dropped a Bomb on Me.” Sweet, huh? Looking forward to seeing what other tracks are on there as well.
As I mentioned, DJ Odiaka beat me to the sale, and picked up quite a few gems as well, which inspired his awesome top ten list for the week. Head over to his site to check it out & download tunes!
See you there next year!!